A brazen boat trailer theft in broad daylight in Irving Park was thwarted on Thursday, April 22 by an alert Rhino Times writer who confronted the would-be thief.  The incident occurred at about 7:30 p.m. on the 600 block of West Cornwallis Drive in Greensboro.

The trailer, valued at several thousand dollars, was in the front yard of a currently unoccupied residence, and a white male with a large face covering was in the process of hooking up the trailer to his vehicle (seen above) when he was asked by the Rhino Times writer what he thought he was doing.

The suspect said he was a repo worker who was repossessing the trailer.  

When the Rhino Times reporter, who lived next door, told the man that he knew the trailer’s owner and knew very well that the trailer was fully paid for, the would-be thief said, “Is this not 2002 Osborne St.?”

When told it was not, the would-be thief said he had only been on the job a few weeks and said he had clearly made a mistake.  When the reporter began taking pictures of the vehicle and the license plate, the man quickly began unhitching the trailer and jumped in and drove away hurriedly down West Cornwallis toward Battleground Avenue. 

The vehicle had a white temporary North Carolina license plate.  The top numbers were obscured but begin with 0 and end in 21, and the bottom row reads VV-26411 or perhaps VV-286411.

The man was about six feet tall or a little taller and was wearing a reddish or purple shirt, jeans and what looked like a hand towel tied over the entire bottom half of his face.

A Greensboro police officer arrived at the scene and took a report. 

Anyone who sees the very conspicuous silver vehicle with black doors and no hubcaps (at least on one side) should contact the Greensboro police at 336-373-2222.

About